


Irrational Treasure - Part Three

by strangeispowerful



Series: ~*Superpowers AU Oneshots*~ [8]
Category: Dear Evan Hansen - Pasek & Paul/Levenson
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Alternate Universe - Small Town, Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Animal Crossing References, Connor Murphy is a Gay Disaster, Cynthia Murphy Tries, Fluff, M/M, One Shot Collection, Pining, Treasure Hunting, evan loves trees, oh well, powers au, pun intended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-04
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 18:48:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24530311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strangeispowerful/pseuds/strangeispowerful
Summary: Connor really didn't want to get out today, especially with Zoe proposing her crazy treasure hunting schemes. But here he is. And Evan's here too, so it's a little better.The Gang continues their search, to an odd result.
Relationships: Connor Murphy & Zoe Murphy, Evan Hansen & Connor Murphy, Evan Hansen/Connor Murphy, Jared Kleinman & Zoe Murphy, Zoe Murphy & Alana Beck
Series: ~*Superpowers AU Oneshots*~ [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1750975
Comments: 6
Kudos: 32





	Irrational Treasure - Part Three

It’s hotter inside of the car than it is outside, which is saying something seeing as it’s nearly a hundred degrees out. It could be the fact that it’s been baking in the library parking lot for forty minutes… or, it could just be Connor, who’s patience is very slowly beginning to wear out.

But despite the fact that the temperature in the car is still climbing, despite the fact that he can feel heat starting to radiate from his skin like a fever, he won’t do anything to show it. He knows how much Zoe cares about him—the fact that she’s willing to take him out with her everywhere she goes when he can be such an asshole is enough to know that—and though it should be comforting or  _ something _ he never knows how to react to that knowledge. Maybe he should just be grateful. 

Nevertheless, though Zoe is cheerful and possibly exudes the most  _ verve  _ he’s ever seen from a human, and despite being his sister, the pushy and unyielding resolve  _ really  _ gets to him. Especially on days like this, days where he’d rather just sleep all day and pretend that the world doesn’t exist outside of his bed.

He knows she’d seen that in him this morning, when he’d stumbled downstairs at eleven, his eyes barely open, and had grabbed the box of Cheerios from the pantry and a carton of milk before collapsing on the couch.

“Connor, I can see you,” Zoe had said without looking up from her Nintendo Switch. “You’re deconstructing again. You only do that when you’re having a bad day.”

He’d taken a handful of cereal and put it into his mouth, chewed, swallowed, drank some of the milk. “What’s it to you?”

She—of course—was already dressed as if she were some fun-loving, young adult rom-com protagonist: her flowy shirt, her jeans (uncuffed for now. She has little doodles drawn all over the inside hems, and has to wait until she’s out of the house to fold them up. If their mom saw, she’d go  _ ape-shit),  _ those high-top Converse she got last year.

“It’s almost the middle of June,” she’d said wistfully, sitting up. Setting the console down, she’d looked him dead in the eyes as he’d taken another swig of milk. “Do you want to meet the others for lunch at Adelaide’s, today?”

“That place again?” He’d groaned. “How much business can we give one diner in two weeks?”

“Around a hundred bucks.” She’d grinned. “I keep my receipts.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“What?” She’d thrown her legs over the side of the couch, stood, stretched, and gone to open the curtains, making him hiss as a shaft of sunlight found its way directly into his eyes. “It’s the last of my birthday money. And I’m getting a job next school year.”

“Right.”

“And it’s good to give our support to local businesses.” Her voice had come from the kitchen, and he’d craned his neck to see her open a cabinet, take out a white glass bowl and a spoon, and bring it over to the couch for him.

“Thanks,” he’d said, but she wasn’t even paying attention.

“Besides! I found this map yesterday with Alana. We were on a walk in the maintenance tunnels, and there was this paper…”

He’d poured the milk in first; it barely filled the bowl halfway before running out.  _ Goddamnit. _

“...we figured it might be some kid’s school project or something—or, well, Alana thinks that—but it’s really well drawn and…”

“We’re out of milk.”

She’d looked over. “You poured the milk  _ first?  _ What are you, a serial killer?”

“Pun,” he’d pointed out, and set the empty carton on the carpet next to the couch. 

“Anyways, I think it might be something really—not  _ important  _ necessarily. Just cool. But I can’t figure it out. There’s tons of marks missing.”

He’d scooped as much cereal as possible onto the spoon before placing it in his mouth and leaving it there, looking off in thought. Zoe sat back down and picked up her Switch, and Connor crunched, swallowed.

“You’re practically attached to that thing.”

“It’s hard to put it down when you don’t have to take charger breaks.”

“Mhm.”

“Hey. I have a four star island and I’m not resting until I have five.”

And then their mom had come downstairs, her red hair in a low ponytail, her face bright in a way that was perfectly artificial.

“Good morning,” she’d smiled thinly. “It’s nice to see you getting along.”

Zoe scowled. “We’re just having a normal conversation.”

She’d conceded, surprisingly enough, putting her hands up in surrender. “Alright, alright.”

There had been a tense moment of silence, not unlike the kind at school where everyone has to stand for twenty seconds at eight in the morning, and everyone’s fidgety and wants to sit down—then their mom had walked to the center of the living room, demanding her children’s attention. She had her yoga mat slung over her shoulder, those yoga-pant-capri-things on, and a pensive look on her face. She’d cleared her throat. Zoe and Connor had given each other this-should-be-good looks.

“Well, I thought that maybe you’d like to come to my yoga class,” she’d said, a little nervously. As if she wasn’t quite sure how they’d take it. “There are free guests allowed today, and… I though it’d be good for your mood.”

Silence. A rush of wind from Zoe’s game. She’d turned the volume down after that.

A noise sounding vaguely like  _ uh  _ came from Zoe, and then she’d cleared her throat. “Actually, Connor and I were going to go to Adelaide’s in ten minutes. To hang out with Jared and Alana and them.”

Connor had shot her a glance. She’d squinted right back.

“You don’t look like you’re ready,” their mother had observed, looking over Connor, his hair a mess, dressed in an oversized t-shirt and grey sweatpants, the half-filled bowl of cereal balanced on his stomach and the box of Cheerios on his lap.

“He’s going to get dressed after he finishes eating.” Zoe looked to him. “Right?”

And this is what really gets him. When she forces him to do shit like this by waiting until the last possible moment and confronting him with it. Making him choose between her choice, or something much less desirable, usually enforced by their parents. 

He’d sighed heavily through his nose. “Yeah.”

And now he’s sitting in the driver’s seat of the car, his hands gripping the wheel, the day going  _ on and on  _ and it’s not even three o’clock yet. He’s driving back to their neighborhood, Zoe next to him, taping the two maps together with the abundant strips of Scotch tape she’d taken from the library, and Alana, Jared, and Evan in the backseat.

“Do you think we can open a window, or something?” Alana asks, wiping at her forehead, and Connor obliges. 

They’re on one of the main streets in Tansy Creek, going at a considerable speed, and the wind suddenly whips through the car with surprising force. Zoe grips the map, crying out. “ _ Oh, shit! I almost lost it!” _

“What?” Evan shouts.

“I said I almost lost the map!”

“It’s too loud in here!” Jared hollers over the wind. “Roll up the windows!”

“Do  _ what?!” _

“ROLL UP THE WINDOWS!”

“JARED, STOP SHOUTING!”

In the rearview mirror, it’s almost comical to watch. Connor presses the button and the windows all roll up simultaneously. There’s a collective sigh of relief before the heat sets back in and everyone slouches back down.

“Where am I going?” Connor forces himself to ask, civil, as they turn off of the main road and into their little neighborhood.

“Oh, right.” Zoe looks at the map. “Well, I was thinking we could just park at the playground and then go into the woods. The ‘X’ on here is in the middle of the forest, but it’s right next to Tansy Creek.”

“We’re not going to have to go in the river, right?” Jared asks, sounding less than excited. 

Zoe’s quiet.

“Zoe?”

“I… don’t think so?”

“I could always just, like, keep it away from your feet,” Alana suggests. “So that you can look around. If you need to.”

Zoe turns to the back seat. “See?”

“I’m excited,” says Evan, his voice light. “I love the woods.”

“Yeah, me too, when it’s not a thousand degrees out,” Connor says, ignoring the sweat starting to break out on his skin—his affinity has always seemed less like an affinity and more natural… as if he’s more prone to fever. That doesn’t stop his body from trying to cool him down as soon as possible though. He’s tried his best not to think about the fact that his internal temperature oscillates way too much to be healthy. He’s tried his best not to entertain the idea of overheating one day, though, he’s sure it’s possible.

“Here.” Zoe points to a little plastic playground on the side of the road, and Connor pulls up to the curb, shutting off the engine.

They all climb out of the car and look around for a while, feet crunching on wood chips. Jared climbs into one of the swings and goes back and forth for a little while, the screeching of the chains unbearably obnoxious, and Alana mostly treads around the perimeter, as if looking for a good shot for her camera—she never takes it out though. Evan and Zoe are the only ones really looking, checking under the burning hot metal platforms and slides.

Connor climbs up to the top of the jungle gym and hangs upside down for a while, feeling the blood rush to his head and watching everyone running around, inverted. He sees Evan come up to him about twenty minutes later and climb the blue plastic ladder to the top, carefully maneuvering himself to sit cross-legged above the bars.

Connor says, “Why do you like trees so much?” It’s an awkward sounding question, and comes out more like a demand, but they’ve known each other for most of high school and it’s not nearly as odd as one would think. The odd thing is more of why he hasn’t asked already.

Connor hears his voice from above: “Oh. I don’t really know. They’re cool, I guess.”

“Cool, you guess?” He cranes his neck to make eye contact with him, an amused expression on his face. “I once heard you talk for ten solid minutes on the environmental importance of controlled wildfires.”

Evan makes a noise. “That was for a school project. I was practicing.”

“You still got to choose the theme.”

This makes him laugh. “Okay. I don’t know. Just... “ He pauses, collecting his thoughts, and then continues. “Like… y’know, trees are the oldest organisms on the planet? They don’t die of old age. They’re incredible at conserving energy, actually. Even when they look completely ruined and dead, they’re still alive… kind of like how almost all of someone’s skin or hair is dead cells? It’s like that with trees, but not just the top layer.”

A look of mild approval crosses Connor’s face. “That is pretty cool.”

“And they communicate, too. Huge networks of fungi and stuff in the roots. And aspen trees? They’re all connected underground. It’s amazing.”

“So nothing to do with the affinity, then?”

He blinks. “I… guess that’s what got me into it. When I grow things—or, whatever—I can… feel its life. It connects to me… like I can  _ feel  _ it… I don’t know how to explain.”

Connor looks at him and feels a hollow pang in his chest, hit like a bell, resounding and echoing and  _ loud.  _ Evan’s face—his blue eyes and his freckles, and his smile is so gentle and real and  _ impossible.  _ He kind of wants to tell him that, deep down.

(He never would).

“Must be nice,” he says instead. “Fire is just fire. It’s not like it has feelings.”

“I don’t think so.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, think of it this way… like, everything is made of something, right? Fire is a chemical reaction between oxygen and whatever is getting burned. And that oxygen has probably been exhaled and inhaled, and made its way through thousands of places. So it might not be ‘alive’ in the sense of the word, but it’s still…” he stops.

“Still?”

“Sorry.” Evan shakes his head. “I wasn’t… I wasn’t trying to like, prove you wrong or anything.”

Connor pulls him self upwards and not-so-gracefully swings himself to the ground, looking at Evan. “I know.”

“Oh.”

“Hey!” Zoe calls, and they turn to see that Jared and Alana have vanished, and Zoe’s on her way into the woods. “We’re going to Tansy Creek if you want to join us some time this century!”

“Yeah, yeah!” Connor shouts after her and she turns. “We’ll be there in a second!” He turns to Evan, who is gingerly trying to make his way to the side of the monkey bars and climb back down. “Do you need help?”

“No, I’m fi—,” he starts before his shoelace gets snagged on a protruding screw and he loses his balance, slipping off of the side with a yelp and falling right into Connor.

They collapse to the ground in a tangled heap, and Evan immediately pushes himself up, backpedaling, stepping away, his face bright red. “Oh, god, I’m so sorry—are you alright?”

“Yeah, it’s nothing,” he says, but smells smoke, and frantically looks to his hands to see that the wood chips are turning into tinder beneath them. “Oh, fuck!” He scrambles up, stamps them, out, and then, shooting a glance at Evan, clenches his fists. 

“Sorry it’s—,”

“Are you—?”

“No, yeah—,”

“Okay, let’s just—,”

They stop. Turn, and walk into the woods. 

Once they’re under the cover of trees, it’s much cooler, and the harshness of the afternoon sun is dimmed and dappled by the leaves. Connor and Evan catch up to the others, and in a few minutes, they’re standing next to the rushing stream that is Tansy Creek.

“Lo and behold,” Jared says. “Our namesake.” He turns and starts wandering off, looking around, bored.

“Kind of sad.” Alana crosses her arms, looks left and right, and then, flicking her fingers, shoots a few beer cans out of the water. 

Zoe’s staring at the map, a hand on her forehead in concentration. “I don’t know where it’d be,” she says. “If it were your friend’s birthday party, or whatever, where would you hide the thing?”

“The thing?” Connor replies, dubious.

“You know what I mean. The treasure, the present, whatever.”

“I don’t know.”

“I read Nancy Drew a lot when I was in the second grade,” Alana says matter-of-factly. “It’s usually in the last place you look. Or, somewhere that aligns with other points of the story.”

“But it’s not our story. We’re just spectators.”

Zoe holds the map up to the sky to have the drawings align again, and sighs. “Damn it. We’re so close.”

And then, from a bit away, Jared’s voice: “There were stars on the map, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Come here!”

The group of them follow the sound of his voice to find him in a little slope next to the stream, where the land has formed a sort of shallow cave. “Look,” he points. “Stars, right there. Etched onto this wood.”

Zoe’s face lights up. “Oh! Oh! Oh!  _ Yes!” _

She rushes over to him, sees the plank of wood pressed into the soft dirt, and starts clawing at it with her hand. “Stars! Stars align with other points in the story! The maps!” They all just kind of watch her for a minute before she turns. “A little help?”

Jared and Evan step up, though Alana stays behind, looking as if she’d really rather not get her bare hands covered in dirt. By the time they’ve made a considerable dent, all of their hands are dirty with it, soil caked beneath their nails.

Jared pries out the piece of wood between a thumb and forefinger, grimacing in disgust, and Zoe gasps. “ _ Oh! OH!” _

“How can you get so excited over a kid’s birthday surprise?”

Squealing, she eagerly pulls out a tiny little box. “Okay, okay,” she starts, stepping over toward the creek to sit on a rock. Everyone else gathers around and peers at it, curious. “You guys ready for this?”

“What do you think it is?” Alana breathes. “Could just be old candy, or something.”

Zoe clears her throat with great ceremony. “We need a pact.”

Evan squints. “What?”

“Like, what if there’s a hundred bucks? We should say now how we’ll split it.”

“Easy, five ways,” Connor amends.

Alana nods. “Twenty dollars each.”

“And if it’s, like jewelry?”

“Depends,” says Alana. “We could sell it, or see who actually likes it…”

“Or,” Zoe’s eyes go wide, “It could be a gift card or something—,”

“Open the damn box!” Jared cuts in, blunt, and Zoe shoots him a petty look.

“Fine.” She fits her fingers under the lid and everyone leans in a little closer—even Connor, who’s not that intrigued anyway—

The lid falls open.

“What?” Jared says, mildly disappointed.

Zoe picks it up, and reads, “Happy birthday Isaac.” She looks at the others. “It’s… a flash drive.”

**Author's Note:**

> If you liked this, check out the other one shots in this series! ~  
> Part 4 coming soon!


End file.
